6 posts tagged “ds9”
As I promised you, the new crew, here’s your chance to continue the voyages the late Star Trek mastermind, Michael Piller began. This is your chance to read one of the pivotal chapters in the unpublished, unsettled and unreleased Michael Piller book chronicling the writing of Star Trek Insurrection. Assimilate it while you can! While you are here, don’t forget to check out my Star Trek compendium with loads of interviews, commentaries and more!
AS PER PARAMOUNT’S REQUEST ON THE 13TH JUNE 2007, I HAVE REMOVED MICHAEL PILLER’S UNPUBLISHED BOOK FROM WWW.SEBRT.COM - SEB’S RAW TAKES
It is so difficult to choose an angle to praise someone for whom you have the greatest respect. This is my gift to one of the twentieth century’s most talented writers. This is a name that only a few of the most privileged have got to use in person. This is a name that so many have read on their television screens and simply shrugged off as so often producers and writers are.
Michael Piller was relatively unknown to me until the beginning of last year, sure I had watched the special interviews with him and noted him for a strange presence that seemed to speak to me and until recently, I never knew why. It was not until the middle of last year when I opened a book that had been on my shelf for what seems like decades without being touched, The Making of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Held within the pages of this rather non-descript book are little jewels of information that someone wanting to write drama for episodic television, especially Star Trek cannot live without! I learned that Michael ran a program to make it easier for young screen writers to get started! The news couldn’t have been better, but I was twelve years late reading the book, seven years late for writing for Deep Space Nine and unfortunately seven months late to impress Michael Piller who had died the previous November.
I stopped thinking about it for a while as for most of 2006 my Star Trek interest lay dormant but around December my interest peaked again. I had to do something about “this writing thing” of mine which was fast becoming my life. I would speak to members of the Star Trek family about their experiences with Michael and they would always tell me of a gentle man, somewhat gruff to those he didn’t know, but with a towering intellect. None of this was getting me any closer to Michael, and without sounding crazy that is what my heart most wanted. I knew deep down that I had to get to a place that I could receive this gift that I was sure Michael had left for me. The answer came to me with a sudden jolt, I should contact Michaels ex-assistant, Eric Stillwell. I did a little research and came up with a method of contact and within 24 hours I was talking and interviewing Eric. We spoke of our mutual admiration for Michael and his work and after 5 hours on the phone Eric told me of a book that Michael had written chronicling his experiences writing Star Trek’s 9th feature film, Insurrection.
What had seemed cloudy the day before began to reveal itself before me, all of this was for a purpose! When Eric told me of the book, and that it was one of Michael’s final wishes that the book be made available to the public for free online I told him that I wanted to be the one to be involved. That would be my gift to Michael and in some way, I believed it would be Michael’s gift to me. It was decided in those early hours and we are in the producing stage now. The book will delight Star Trek fans and give new, relevant insight into the creation of a Star Trek feature screenplay.
I invite you the new crew to continue the voyages that Michael Piller began. It is to us that he committed his legacy. With his overwhelming spirit Michael empowers us to boldly go where no one has gone before!
-Sebastian Prooth. Copyright 2007.
This following is an excerpt from the book that remains unpublished and its ownership unsettled. The book is secure in my possession. I am of course referring to the book mentioned in my tribute to our hero, Michael Piller.
“Rick Berman wasn’t sure that I’d want the job. The first thing he said when he came into my office was, “Don’t say ‘no’ until I finish talking.” And when he finished talking about his hopes for the next Star Trek movie, he asked me if I would be interested in writing it, and I surprised him by saying ‘yes.’ It may seem odd that anyone would even consider passing on a chance to write a feature film, but Rick knew I’d been moving away from the Star Trek franchise for the last couple of years.
I had been in space with Rick for almost a decade. We first met at a lunch with Gene Roddenberry and Maurice Hurley, the head writer of The Next Generation during its first two seasons. Hurley was leaving the show and thought I might be a candidate to replace him. I wasn’t hired at that lunch (Rick and Gene had already hired another friend of mine, Michael Wagner), but I did agree to write a script for the coming season.
My agent was furious. Writing a free-lance script would look like I hadn’t been able to find a staff job. No show would ever hire me as a staff writer again, he said. But I really wanted to write a Star Trek script so I ignored my agent’s advice. Today, in his lovely new home, he’s happy I did.” –Michael Piller.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Andre Bormanis. Andre was not only a Science Consultant, Writer and Producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, he is also an extremely accomplished and interesting guy in other ways!
A few weeks ago I managed to catch up with Andre as he is working on a few different writing projects and combing Hollywood for his next major gig!
Andre! It’s a pleasure to have you for an interview at SebRT.com – I don’t say this to everyone, but ever since I first saw you interviewed, I have wanted to talk to you.
We know what the job title was, but what exactly did you do on Star Trek?
I started as the science consultant on the final season of ST:TNG. I wrote about a half a dozen episodes of Voyager. I was brought on as a full time writer on Enterprise in 2001, and became a co-producer on that show during its fourth season.
I understand you worked as a writer on Brannon Braga’s Threshold. What would have happened if the show had not been cancelled after 13 episodes?
Threshold was a lot of fun. It was a terrific show…we had a great cast! It was a wonderful experience working on that, an opportunity to write a show set in the present day, which was a nice change of pace from Star Trek. I thought it was a terrific idea, based on this “contingency plan” that [lead character Molly Caffrey] created. She had to put together a group of mis-fit scientists. Clearly not squeaky clean! The character dynamics were just terrific. Unfortunately we only got to do 13 episodes. I would love to do a show like that again.
The plan that Molly created anticipated three phases if the aliens who contacted us were hostile. If the aliens established a base of operations on Earth we’d go to phase 2: Foothold. That was kind of what we imagined season 2 of the show would be about. If they actually ended up capturing most of the Earth we’d move to phase 3: Stranglehold. The human remnants would be fighting a guerrilla action against the aliens to take back the planet. That was just sort of a very rough outline of how the series might have developed. When you’re writing a TV show you can only get so far ahead of yourself! You don’t want to put yourself in a straight jacket and make the show dictated rather than written. You can buy the DVD box set, I encourage you all to do that J!
Describe a day in the life of a writer / producer on Star Trek.
Mostly my responsibilities involved developing stories, writing stories, and writing and re-writing scripts. At any given time there were 7 or 8 people on staff. For the first two seasons of Enterprise we did 26 episodes each season and we had to have a new script ready roughly every 10 days or so. We started writing about 5 weeks before the season began production. We had several stories figured out, initially; we tried to be 5 scripts ahead. As the season went on we tended to fall behind. The hard part is not writing the script, it’s coming up with the stories.
I understand that you have been working on a screenplay. What is it? And what is it about?
It’s a science fiction comedy. A two-hour, feature length movie. I wrote it with Clay Graham, who was the Executive Producer of The Drew Cary Show. We grew up together in Arizona. We wrote it last summer. It’s a present-day science fiction comedy about a group of people who meet in high school…they see a UFO… it haunts them. All of their plans for college and what they want to do with their lives fall apart. We move to 20 years later and the guys have become friends and are still kind of obsessed with this UFO. Then they see it again on CNN. The airforce says it’s a classified military experiment. Our guys know this is crap. So they decide to break into Area 51; they recruit a Vietnam veteran to get them in. Tonally it’s along the lines of Men in Black - that sort of humor.
I am holding your book “Star Trek Science Logs” – Interesting book. How did you come to write it?
It came out about ten years ago! I used to do a lot of magazine writing, popular science style. The science behind the science fiction was my job on Trek. I thought it would be fun to look at some of the science on the show and look at the basis in reality for some of the technology.
You had writing credit on an interesting episode of Star Trek Voyager, “Waking Moments.” What made you choose to write about dreaming? Do you dream lucidly yourself?
I used to have lucid dreams…I have not had them for a number of years now. I was thinking about a possible story for Chakotay. Given that he has a Native American heritage I thought this would be a good area for him. I pitched it to Jeri Taylor and then I sat down in the writers room and we broke the story. Ken Biller helped a lot on the script.
Did (Do) you find yourself gravitating to a particular character to write for?
On Star Trek: Voyager I really liked Seven of Nine, and Tuvok and Chakotay. On Enterprise, Phlox, Trip, Archer and T’Pol were fun to write for. As I evolved as a writer I started to devise stories as journeys and conflicts among the characters, rather than starting with a science fiction premise…
I understand you’re trying to get signed onto a new show at the moment. What shows would you like to work on? In what role?
My goal is to be a writer / producer again, as I was on Threshold. There are a lot of pilots being shot right now. There are several that look interesting. It is hard to say at this juncture what shows are going to get picked up. It’s a little early to start picking winners at this point. Bryan Fuller who worked on Voyager wrote a new pilot that looks really good. If that goes to series I would really like to work on it.
Tell me about The Planetary Society. I understand you work with Star Trek Voyager’s Robert Picardo there…
The Planetary Society was founded over twenty-five years ago by Carl Sagan to promote public interest in space science and exploration. Bob Picardo is on the Board. I’ve worked with them over the years as an informal consultant, and a writer for their magazine. We do a lot of public education, conferences, special events to celebrate milestones in space exploration – it’s a great group, well worth supporting. Check out their website at www.planetary.org.
What excites you about physics and astronomy?
So many things! The discovery of extra-solar planets – one was just found that could be “Class-M” as we used to say on Star Trek: Earth-like. There’s a new particle accelerator that’s being built in Europe that will hopefully answer some basic questions about the origin of matter. These are exciting times in science.
I understand that you are an accomplished pianist…what is your style?
Mid-nineteenth through early twentieth century classical, but I’ve been learning modern jazz lately too. I love Chopin, Satie, Ravel, Gershwin, and Burt Bacharach.
Can you recommend any books to people who want to do what you do?
In terms of writing for film and television, “Story” by Robert McKee is pretty good. You can also buy lots of published screenplays these days. Read all the classics: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Chinatown, and anything else you can get your hands on. Pay close attention to how they’re written, particularly in terms of structure and dialog.
Do you have any advice or helpful tips for young people wanting to produce/write [for TV or film]?
Keep writing. The only way to get good at it is to do it day after day, year after year. Most of what anyone writes is junk. The people who eventually succeed are the ones who keep working, keep improving their craft.
One last question, I am asking everyone this at the moment: What are your thoughts about Star Trek XI and would you be interested in working on it?
I hope it’s a great success. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I wouldn’t be particularly interested in working on it though. I spent thirteen years in the Star Trek universe. I’m interested in doing other things now.
What’s next for Andre Bormanis?
I wish I knew! But not knowing what’s next is part of the fun. Like most of our Star Trek characters, I believe that life should be an adventure. It’s not as much fun if you know everything that’s coming…
A very special thanks to you Andre for joining me, best of luck this season!
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If you would like to find out more about Andre Bormanis or read his credits please see his profile on IMDB. If you have any questions please send them to questions@sebrt.com and make any and all comments here with the comment button. Stay turned to SebRT.com for an interview with Robert Picardo, the holographic doctor!
Copyright 2007. Sebastian Prooth. www.SebRT.com
Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to Ronald B. Moore, who was the Visual Effects Coordinator on Star Trek The Next Generation and Visual Effects Supervisor on Voyager and Enterprise. Throughout his entire career he has worked on films such as last years Miami Vice to the 1984 hit Ghostbusters! Ron has won 5 Emmys and been nominated for 9. Most recently Ron has lent his talent to the widely acclaimed “Star Trek New Voyages.” I spoke to him for a couple of hours for the interview, during which we talked extensively about motion control photography used in episodes like Endgame and Lifeline of Voyager. Ron is a fan of the show and truly an all around awesome guy to talk to and I was privileged to speak to him amongst his busy schedule.
Ron! Non one could be more welcome at SebRT.com, I had admired your work on Star Trek for years. Thank you for joining me for this short interview.
Are you working on the next Star Trek feature Star Trek XI?
It would be very unlikely. It’s all new people now. I’m glad to see JJ (Abrams) coming in and the names they have coming in. Like Matt Damon as Captain Kirk… They have huge shoes to fill. The charisma, the chemistry, of the original series will be hard to match.
Are you a fan of the show?
Oh yeah. Very much so! I never was able to get into Deep Space (Nine). I didn’t work on DS9. At the end of TNG I left to do Generations and then came back to do Voyager and then moved to Enterprise.
Do you get recognized in public ever?
Not really. I do have many friends and fans that I have met over the years at conventions and on the Trek cruises. It is always fun to run into them around the world. The cruises have taken me to many places and allowed me to meet many people in many countries. I consider this one of the best perks of all that I have received by working on Star Trek.
What effect that your produced stands in your memory?
There’s a show that was TNG, Identity Crisis. I know the director didn’t like it, but I loved it. I liked the concept of the show. We got on and it was a Friday, a complicated day, we were on stage 16 there was black light and dirt and dust. I remember sitting there and waiting for a shot that was really complicated. It was about 12:30AM and we started setting up the shot and it was just totally wrong. I wondered what I was going to do! I started moving things around - everything was crucial for the shadows and I got it set up. LeVar (Burton) came up to me and told me that he saw why we had to make the change.
How has the work you do evolved with the advancement of computers and technology?
It grew every season! Nothing is the same from TNG to where we ended up. When we started we were on 1 inch tape and Enterprise was shooting on digital!
What kind of work have you done for Star Trek New Voyages?
My work on New Voyages has been mostly consulting with the directors and some of the crew putting the latest episode together. I think it is a really great episode. Mark Zicree shot it in HD and the story is really good. I consider George Takei a friend and it is always good to work with him though sadly we didn’t spend much time together during this project. George has been on many of the Trek cruises I have been on. The latest episode of New Voyages in nearing completion. I believe they are having a screening in Florida at the end of March. There will be some work that needs to be done after but you should be able to see it before long.
Do you watch the show when it is on TV and say – ah, now that was a hard one to do!
It is fun to watch episodes I have worked on. Some make you think that you could have done better and others make you proud. I find it hard to watch some of the early episodes as we improved so much over the years. And yes, now and again I will see a shot that was hard and still wonder how we pulled it off in the time we had. Trek was a really great show to work on.
Did you ever work closely with Michael Piller?
I can’t say I worked closely with Michael but did work with him on the Trek shows. I have a lot of respect for what he added to the show and the work he did after. He was a highlight to the years I did work with him on Trek. He is missed.
What are you working on at the moment?
I spend some time last year working on Smallville and Miami Vice and a few other projects working with a company in Santa Monica. At the end of the year and the first of this year I have been involved with Rush Hour 3 doing some visual effects editing and producing. It has kept me busy but I am also involved in looking for another project to get into.
Do you have any exciting future plans?
Nothing at the moment. I have enjoyed doing the Cruise Trek conventions over the years and they have one this year to Australia and I hope to manage to pull that off. I did a The Cult TV convention in England last year and play guitar with the Enterprise Blues Band and we put out our second CD last year. It is a great bunch of guys mostly actors that have played parts in Trek over the years.
Ron asked me to add the following statement to the end of the interview:
One final word. It is important to understand how many people it takes to pull of the shots in any TV show or Movie. I have been blessed to work with some of the most talented people in the field of visual effects. On Trek I have worked with Dan Curry, Rob Legato, Gary Hutzel, Paul Hill and so many many more really super people it is something to remember. I hope to work with them all again. I have worked on many TV shows and features and of all of them, Star Trek was a highlight. I owe my being here to real stars like Richard Edlund, Jo Westheimer, Gene Roddenberry and the people associated with them. In this business it is many times the people you work with that make it all happen.
And with that I would like to thank Ron for spending two hours with me. It was truly a pleasure to “meet” you. Talking to you was as inspiring as I thought it would be!
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If you would like to find out more information about Ronald B. Moore check Star Trek.com or click here for his Memory-Alpha Page. Please send any questions to questions@sebrt.com - Thank you and come back in a week or so as I will have an interview with Andre Bormanis!
I had the chance to catch up with another Star Trek / Paramount Pictures alumni, Rick Sternbach. I have admired Rick’s work for years as I have Dan Curry, who I interviewed a few months back. Rick Sternbach is the guy who designed the Klingon Vor’Cha class Attack Cruiser, the Delta Flyer, the Starfleet Phaser and Tricorder, the Dauntless from Voyager’s “Hope and Fear” and about a million other things we have come to know as normal in the Star Trek universe.
Rick it is truly a pleasure to have you for an interview, I had admired your work for as long as I can remember!
What exactly did you do as the Senior Illustrator and Technical Script Consultant for Star Trek TNG, DS9, Voyager?
The illustrator part was pretty straight forward. The Production designer would have specific requirements for the show. Since it’s science fiction, everything has to be designed. It wasn’t at all like doing a western or a police show…where you could rent something. There was something new every week. The script would say “a fabulous alien gadget” and you can’t just go and rent something. For the most part we had to invent everything, it started from the script. We would talk about it, modify for the budget and present the drawings, get estimates. Every 10th working day we had a new episode. We would establish all the hand props we would see form week to week, tricorders, phasers, hyposprays…etc.
You have been designing things for many years. It seems you favour objects that fly in space. Why is that?
I grew up in a time before there was anything in Earth orbit. As a kid growing up when the first satellites were being put up and rocket powered aircraft were breaking records left and right. It caught a lot of imaginations and mine was one of them. I knew a lot of people with the same interests, we would gravitate together and fly rockets and design rockets for science fictional things. As a career path it certainly has been different from my pals. I haven’t quite got anything in to space for real yet…
How much did you work on Star Trek Generations, First Contact and Insurrection?
I did little bits. I blueprinted the enterprise-e based on sketches provided by John Eaves. I simply made it easier for ILM to build the ten foot model. I did very little for Insurrection. I did little bits on the various on the feature.
Are you working on the next Star Trek feature film, Star Trek XI?
I wish! I have sent my resume in, with a few visual samples but so far it has been a one way conversation. I would welcome a call from them.
Are you a fan of the show(s) yourself? Do you watch it, see a Cardassian ship and say, I did that?
I’ve always considered myself a follower of the franchise, but not a complete fan. I like a lot of what the franchise has to offer in terms of design. I appreciate what the franchise has done over the last 40 or so years just in terms of how it has got into our social consciousness. I tune into the re-runs every so often, I have not seen every episode of Enterprise as it didn’t hold my interest as much as the other series did. I don’t need to say “I did that” because I know I did that!
A question I asked my last interviewee, If I wanted to vaporize my neighbor’s dog, what setting would I set this Phaser to?
Probably jam it all the way up to setting 8..I think that would do. Anything higher is overkill!
What was your favourite design for Star Trek?
These days I think it is a toss up between the Voyager and the Klingon Vor’cha Class Attack Cruiser. The Prometheus was a close third. With the Prometheus the important thing was to get these designs to evolve. It was a little further along than I would have wanted. I’m not sure how much more advanced that ship could have been.
Is drawing about the hand or the brain?
The two are tied together. Whatever tools are being used, whether it be pencil or the computer mouse. There has to be ways to get the ideas down on paper, into the computer, printed out..somehow conveyed. It of course starts with an idea in my head. I get a lot of pleasure out of sitting here with a very wet felt pen and drawing shapes.
Are you recognized in public or can you lead an anonymous existence?
If I go to a con..people might know me from online pictures. No one knows me out and about! I have gone to space symposiums and given talks and in those situations, they all know me. At the grocery store or gas station I am just some Joe from the neighborhood!
How long does it take you to design a Starship or a Phaser?
It depends. For episodic stuff it might take as little as ten minutes. Show a few drawings at a production meeting and they would say, Love it! A ship like Voyager, the producers wanted to make sure it took 5 months! Not constant work mind you, but it takes a lot of time to get right!
Anything exciting on the horizon?
At the moment I am president of Space Model Systems Incorporated (SMS Inc) – We produce products for the space education and hobby market. We produce a lot of aftermarket decals for historical space models. Terrain models and the moons of Jupiter. Places that space probes have seen. There are some days where I will just sit and doodle.
Thank you so much for your time Rick, you are welcome to come back at any time!
It’s been great!
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If you have any questions for Rick Sternbach please send them to questions@sebrt.com – Please check out Rick Sternbach’s official website at www.RickSternbach.com
Recently, I have become aware that Star Trek in its production only employed the best people to “pull it off.” As I read the many Star Trek publications that are on my bookshelf such as Star Trek Action! and The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I have come to understand how much Star Trek has not only grown but also the professionalism of the people who have made it grow.
If you look at the producers for Star Trek TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise they are all accomplished and very good at their jobs. This is not intended as a compliment from a fan perspective but as an analysis of the results. Seldom have I seen a television programme that is delivered with such technique. This is probably one of the reasons that in the early 1990’s Star Trek TNG was the highest rated show on television. Producers like the late Michael Piller who put everything into the show, adding their voice but maintaining the perspective that Roddenberry weaved into the show are few and far between. I would also like to point out Rick Berman who is so often blamed for the downfall of Star Trek. Berman put almost 20 years of his professional life into Star Trek and as blasphemous as this is, Star Trek TNG got better when he became Executive Producer. It was also around that time that Michael Piller took over the writing staff so their work in concert made what we all remember as the best episodes of the modern Star Treks.
The design and effects teams that worked behind the scenes whenever a script called for a new starship, alien or type of phaser blast designers and producers of the likes of Dan Curry, Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach were brought in. These pros seemed to be able to come up with solutions to any technical requirements of the script. They are the best at what they do and it is obvious in their work both on Star Trek and other assignments. Others like Michael Westmore the Makeup Supervisor and Herman Zimmerman the Production Designer also represent the best of the industry, you just have to watch the TV show.
When Star Trek the Next Generation was started in 1987 Gene Roddenberry and Robert Justman put together this team that I have never seen matched on another television series or film. As Star Trek XI is on the horizon of Pre-Production I can only hope they can build a team that can do justice to Star Trek as much as these guys and all the others who I didn’t mention did. JJ Abrams has his work cut out for him!!
